What's the Story of Our Music?

Cajun and Creole music forms are closely related and, as such, they share many common origins and influences. Originating from Nova Scotia dance music, Cajun music uses a fiddle or twin fiddles, and incorporates the German and Italian influence of the accordion to play two-steps and waltzes. Zydeco musicians substitute a washboard (frottoir) for the fiddle, a practice with African and Caribbean origins, and typically produce pieces for livelier dancing.

The music forms of blues, country, boogie woogie, rock-and-roll and rockabilly, found in music halls in the upper region of the Heritage Area, contributed to the evolution and endurance of the well-known Louisiana Hayride. Blues and Gospel music, once respectively called the Devil's music and God's music, evolved from the African-rooted antebellum traditions of spirituals, ring-shouts and work hollers. Sometimes incorporating various European elements, some gospel music follows British-American tradition.